The Way to God's End # 4

The Way to God's End # 4

The Vital Importance of Fellowship

May I add, too, that the whole emphasis is missed if we regard it as something purely personal and individual. It can easily be taken like that, and such a verse as this used so that we might feel: 'Well, things are pretty bad all around; there is nothing I can do except walk with the Lord myhself, and have a personal life of fullness with Him.' This is a very real temptation, but a mistake. If you read on in the letter, you will find that the fellowship of which John is speaking is something of tremendous significance in the largest possible interests of the Lord. This is the time, says John, that can be called 'the last hour' (1 John 2:18) it is the time when we are brought very near towhat hasbeen told us about antichrist; it is the time when thereturn of the Lord Jesus, and all, the very great all, for His Chirch, bound up woth that return, is in view. And this is the time - I speak now of the last chapter - when there comes into view, more than ever, the great cosmic conflict between that whichis of God, and the rest. The Apostle says, as he closes his letter: 'The whole world' - and all that is included in that designation - 'the whole world is in the wicked one' (1 John 5:19); and the big issue is: Shall that prevail or shall there be the triumph of what is of God?

'Whatsoever was begotten of God overcometh the world' (1 John 5:4). You may take for your own personal help, the thought that there is victory for you, by Divine lifewithin you; but you will notice that the Apostle does not say 'Whosoever" - he says 'Whatsoever is begotten of God.' My own conviction is that he is takingup the matter, not of an individual life, but of the life together of the people of God, described here as 'fellowship' - we have fellowship' - and is saying that 'fellowship' holds within it God's secret for ultimate triumph. It is a big thing; not personal, and not to be made a thing in itself.

No wonder, then, that stress is laid hereon the importance of fellowship: "If we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship!" Everything else springs out of that. It is the key to the realization of the purpose of God. Later on, John will speak of service; he will speak of witness; he will speak even of prayer. These are all matters very muchalive in our consciousnessand exercise. How anxious we all are, and rightly so, to be a people who serve the Lord; how concerned we must be with the ministry and the witness of the Word; how strongly we feel the urgency of the need to pray! May I suggest to you that an approach along any of these avenues is not the Divine approach. It is rathercoming from the outside in this letter, everything is made to work from the inside. For them,for us, the crux of everything is: Do we have fellowship? andout of that fellowship,service and ministry,and even prayer, find their expression. That is what emerges from this letter of John.

And then, as to the significance of this functioning fellowship - not just kind-hearted friendship, friendly relationship, but a functioning fellowship. It is of such significance to the Lord that this is the center, this is the target, this is the focus of all satanic opposition. Here I do not need tospeakfrom 1 John, I can speak from our own experience: we know it; how we know it! - and are going to know it. This is the thing, above all other things, that will provoke satanic opposition, because it is the key to everything else. Let me put the other side to you, in avery heartening verse: "To thisend was the Son of God manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil" (1 John 3:8). May we prove that! We shall prove it if we fulfill the conditions.

We notice, too, that this verse (1 John 1:7) begins, as doquite a few other verses in this letter, 'If,' if... It is as thought God says: I can provide the fellowship; I will attend to the fellowship; I will watch over and fight for the fellowship, if you will fulfill your condition. It is put here as a challenge to us all: 'If we walk in the light ...' You notice, from the use of the word "walk," how personal and practical the responsibility is. This is no matter of a meeting, or a series of meetings, only; no matter only of a crisis of fresh devotion to the Lord, though that may be the gateway into it. This is a walk. When the Scriptures speak of a 'walk,' they speak of that which is determined, that whichis persistent, of that which we have to do ourselves - God cannot do it for us. If we walk in the light, we have the fellowship - if ... if...

Yes, we are veryfaulty - the verse takes full account of that;all our faults and failings will come out in the light. But they are expected. If we walk in the light, there will be something that needs cleansing away; but the promise is, there is something that will cleanse it away if we walk in the light.

~T. Austin-Sparks~

(continued with # 5 - The Demand for Reality)